


Adjustment Period

by fiveyaaas



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Complicated Relationships, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Jealousy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Others are mentioned but not major to plot, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Smut, This is just me projecting missing college, rip to five, rip to five’s physics professor, rip to five’s roommates, that is not via zoom call, who has to listen to him rant about his gf, who have to listen to him cry about his gf, who thinks his gf doesn’t love him anymore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:00:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26464552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/pseuds/fiveyaaas
Summary: Five sighed, looking up from his physics assignment to scowl at whoever was speaking to him now. Inevitably, the guy would ask for a demonstration of his powers, and Vanya would find out somehow like she always did that he’d yelled at another idiot bothering him once they realized he had once been in the Umbrella Academy.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 44
Kudos: 233





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leafrain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafrain/gifts).



> This fic is just me projecting wanting to have college in-person but recognizing that it is a terrible decision at this time period and accepting zoom calls.  
> (Okay, technically, I was planning to write this before I knew school was gonna be all online, but sue me, I wanted a college AU where they still had superpowers.)

“Are you that kid with superpowers?” 

Five sighed, looking up from his physics assignment to scowl at whoever was speaking to him now. Inevitably, the guy would ask for a demonstration of his powers, and Vanya would find out somehow like she always did that he’d yelled at another idiot bothering him once they realized he had once been in the Umbrella Academy. He was 98% certain it was either his roommates or the professor he was a TA for that offered up Five’s behavior to Vanya. Dr. Stevens was more likely to have her number, but his roommates were more likely to meddle. It was no secret that he at least attempted to be nice when Vanya was the one asking, and every one of the aforementioned people were well-aware of this fact.

“Don’t ask him for a demonstration,” a voice chirped from behind him. “He bites.”

Five whirled around, taking in the sight of Vanya in a peacoat, checkered skirt, and sensible flats. She had pulled her hair back, bangs that hadn’t quite grown out yet sticking out of the ponytail stubbornly. He had never minded the look of the Academy uniform on her, but she suited the look of a college student. 

“You’re not the girl member, are you?” The guys’ voice sounded distressed, like he couldn’t believe that he had gotten two out of the six freak child stars gifted with superpowers (there were actually seven, but Vanya’s existence wasn’t public knowledge). 

Vanya frowned at him. “No, I’m not Allison.”

“Oh, man, you have no idea how many times I jer-“

“Leave,” Five told him firmly but with not enough sharpness that Vanya would get mad. 

The guy opened his mouth to probably ask more idiotic questions, and Vanya, after grabbing Five’s coffee and taking a sip, told the guy, “Did you know he has sex with his sister?”

Five snorted at the horror in the guy’s gaze before he ran off. He turned to Vanya, reaching over to take his coffee back from her and commenting, “You think we’re gonna see articles about me and Allison fucking next week?”

“I hope so, did you see that she got that role? For the rom-com, I mean.” 

Five rolled his eyes, “Likely not through talents that the rest of her competitors have.”

“I miss your shittalking,” Vanya said, sinking into the seat beside him. 

“You could have it every day if you lived with me.” 

Vanya had gone to a state college in New Hampshire, close enough that she or Five could visit one another occasionally, but they couldn’t exactly justify living with one another. Five had a full ride to MIT, and he was pretty certain Vanya could get one to a college near enough that they could live together. He had not been entirely successful in convincing her. Five still remembers seeing the sad way she stared at the Berklee College of Music brochure he caught her with just before they left- how he had asked Vanya about if that’s something she wanted, leaning down over her shoulder to read the brochure, and she had looked up and glared at him and started to rant about how he shouldn’t come into her room unannounced, despite never minding before that instance.

“I like my college,” Vanya commented dryly. “And I have a phone too. You could always just _call_ me to shittalk.” 

Five frowned at her, realizing he had been a little neglectful the past few weeks. He assumed it had much to do with everything he’d been working on as a TA. Of course, too, there was the fact that once people had found out an Umbrella Academy member went to school with them, the harassment started, and suddenly everyone wanted him to perform his powers for them. Even more unfortunately, people had started _hitting on him,_ and he wanted to shriek that he was very much in love with someone else each time. Then, he’d catch himself, and he’d remembered Vanya lived a life separate from him until she visited. He didn’t _think_ she was trying to break up with him, but he was very wary that any instant she _might._

“I’m sorry,” he told her, sincere in his apology, even if his stomach was churning. He would have to do better, make sure that he drew out more time for her because the idea of finally escaping from the entrapment of Reginald’s claws only for Vanya to turn around and be done with him made him sick. “I have been really busy with school, and then there’s the whole aspect of not being able to study anywhere on campus because people are irritating me or not being able to study in my dorm because my roommates irritate me.” 

She gently patted his arm, and he leaned into the movement, wanting nothing more than to get lost in her touch. Then, she said, “I’m surprised that with all the people asking you to demonstrate your power that none of them have started trying to get into your pants yet.”

He stiffened; he hadn’t told her about that, only because he didn’t want her to be concerned. If he said something now, though, would he just look guilty? “Yeah, well, maybe they’re more fans of Space Boy,” he drawled, a passing gratitude flitted through his mind that she couldn’t hear thoughts or his pounding heartbeat. 

She smirked, “Who is, to clarify, also fucking his sister.”

“You really ought not to call us siblings, you know,” Five said, sipping his coffee. “As much as I appreciate the horror in people’s eyes at incest jokes, I wouldn’t say being trafficked by the same man as a baby counts as being siblings. Again, though, incest shock value _is_ a treat. Also, while we’re on _that_ topic, I don’t think Luther has it in him. He refuses to even follow Allison, saying she’d want her space, and, you _know_ if he was regularly getting laid he’d have no qualms with that.”

Vanya chuckled, “I think Luther is more romantic than you, Five.”

Despite the fact that she was clearly joking, Five’s stomach sank again, the _‘she’s going to_ _break up with you’_ monologue his brain had created was looping around again. How did one even _be_ romantic? How was he supposed to _learn_ that? Would Dr. Stevens know that? He was kind of a mentor to Five, right?

“You okay? You look sick,” Vanya said before he was capable of responding to her whole Luther-would-be-a-much-better-man-to-be-romantically-involved-with-also-I-hate-you-and-I-have-a-new-lover-in-New-Hampshire comment. “Have you been teleporting too much? You only look this sick when you’ve done that…” 

“I have a stomach bug,” he lied easily. 

She frowned at the coffee he was still sipping, and then the cream cheese danish by his laptop. 

“How’s New Hampshire?” Five segued smoothly (if the way Vanya was gaping at him was any indication.) “Have you met anybody? Got any friends?” _Have you found somebody that pays attention to you even when they’re busy?_

She shrugged. “A few,” she said dismissively. 

“That’s great,” Five croaked, heart pounding. 

A smile tugged at her lips, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. 

The monologue stopped abruptly, rewound itself, and played from the beginning. 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has left kudos and comments on this story so far. I am trying to reply to all of the comments on my stories gradually, but there are quite a few so it may take a second to get to all of them. 
> 
> I am sorry that I took so long to make an update for this fic, but this is another shorter one that is relatively easy for me to write, so! This one will most likely be done by the end of the month as well. 
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter!

She thought everything might have changed, once she had gotten to college. That somehow, she would make friends and she would not be isolated any longer. 

She thought that it would be  _ better.  _ She thought that without her father enforcing that she didn’t belong anywhere, she would find belonging in the world. 

And then she had gone to college, and nobody wanted to be her friend at all. 

She should be happy, really, that at least she has Five. But part of her wonders if Five would still be her friend if they weren’t… whatever they were to one another. 

There was a point in time, when Five and Vanya had been about ten, that Five had decided that he wanted to be friends with her. She imagined that it had something to do with wanting to piss Reginald off, but she was lonely. She accepted his friendship, and, over the years, it developed into something else. Vanya wasn’t sure if she would call him her boyfriend, didn’t know if that could very well explain what they were to each other. Regardless, she didn’t know, in the case that she wasn’t with him romantically or sexually, that he would still want to be with her once she wasn’t under the same roof as him. Though she did not doubt that Five was her friend, she did doubt if he’d ever want to be her friend if she didn’t offer him anything. 

When she came to visit Five, and he asked her if she had made any friends, she knew he was likely worried that she hadn’t. She didn’t want him to worry, so she lied and said she had, though she didn’t look him in the eyes as she did. 

He had started growing distant, and she worried that it was because he had lost interest to her when she wasn’t near him. 

“Have you been getting along with your roommates?” Vanya asked him when they walked to the Hayden library. 

Five shrugged noncommittally. Oh, no. That was not a good sign. 

“Five, you said you’d try to be nice to them,” she said, trying to study his expression but he kept moving his head away.

“It’s fine,” Five dismissed. “How have your  _ friends  _ been?”

She wasn’t sure why he emphasized the word friends, or why he was feigning nonchalance as he did. “They’re fine.”

“Great.”

“Yes, great.”

She wasn’t sure if they were about to have an argument, but she could sense Five’s bitchy energies radiating off of him in waves. Quickly, she said, “Do you want to go to your dorm instead?”

Hopefully, his roommates wouldn’t be there. She only could be here a little bit longer because she didn’t intend to stay the night at all, so she hoped that they could spend the short time she would be there  _ alone.  _

“Yeah, that works,” he said, glancing around the campus before shrugging, gripping her waist, and blinking her to his dorm room. 

Five released her, holding onto her elbow still to keep her steady. “Sorry, I just figured it would be quicker this way.”

Vanya raised her brows. “You show off for the other girls or just me?”

Five laughed, but the noise sounded just the slightest bit on-edge. 

She felt her stomach sink. 

She was right; he had gotten bored of her when he wasn’t there. 

“I’m going to have to go pretty soon,’ Vanya said, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. “I have to practice a lot tonight. I’m thinking of auditioning for the pit in a musical coming up at my college, and I want to make sure I’m prepared for it.”

“You just got…” He trailed off, waiting a few seconds before he spoke again, “I, uh. Hope your audition goes well.”

She glanced down. Of course he wouldn’t argue with her leaving. He didn’t want her here in the first place. 

She should just go. “It was nice seeing you, though. I’ll… I’ll try to visit you sometime.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, glancing at a pile of books at his desk. 

She started to stand up on her toes to kiss him goodbye before jerking away from him. He was being polite, sure, but he didn’t want her here. 

Really, she should get used to the feeling of being alone, anyways. Five had only ever wanted her when he served a purpose to him, and he had plenty of people to fulfill the one he had wanted the past few years here. It made sense; they were never supposed to leave the mansion for very long at all. Vanya was there, convenient. And now there were many people here who could fulfill that desire for him, people much better than her. 

“Goodbye, Five. See you soon.”

He nodded again, and she walked to his door.

Just as she closed her hand around the doorknob, he was at her side, blue light fading from his face. She raised her eyebrows at him, confused, and he leaned down to kiss her, pressing his hands to either of her cheeks. 

As she opened her mouth, making a small, stunned noise, he pressed his tongue into her mouth, moving one hand down to grip her shoulder. She relaxed, kissing him back. 

She knew, of course, that this was just him thanking her for making the trip to him. He probably felt an obligation to her, probably felt that he had to do something for her traveling so far and felt bad for her. Perhaps he thought she was pathetic, going this far at all, and this was out of a sense of pity. 

Either way, she knew this was a goodbye, and that Five was too kind to say it. 

“Visit me soon,” Five told her, and she let herself, for just a second, believe that he was telling the truth, about wanting her there.

And then she let go of that fantasy, and she smiled up at him, lying in turn, “Of course.”

* * *

When she boarded the train back to New Hampshire, she felt tears prickle her vision. Reaching into her coat, she pulled out the rattling bottle of pills and dry-swallowed two. 

She closed her eyes, thinking back to when Five had first told her he would be going to MIT. He’d been convinced that she would follow him, go to Berklee, move in with him. Vanya had wanted to go to Berklee, truly, but she knew that she wasn’t good enough to get in. She also knew that, on the slim chance that she could’ve, she wouldn’t have been able to pay for it. Reginald absolutely could have, but she knew that he would have held that money above her, used it as a way to keep control of her. 

So, she went to a state college (one that was absolutely still nice, just far away from Five) that was able to offer her enough in scholarships that she’d be able to pay for the rest with student loans. 

In doing so, she had pushed herself away from Five, and she should have known this would happen. She should have been able to figure out that he would not have wanted her the second that she wasn’t easy and available for her, that he could find other people that were within walking distance. 

Why would he want  _ her,  _ except that she was  _ convenient?  _

She didn’t need him to lie to her or falsely reassure her any longer. She would cut ties with him herself, and then he wouldn’t have to feel a sense of obligation or pity to keep holding onto them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I will try to update as promptly as possible!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long wait in updates, but it’ll be fully posted tonight!

Two months. 

She hadn’t said a word to him in two months, and he stopped trying to reach out at one point. It wasn’t difficult to surmise that she was through with him. 

He refused to move on at all, though. Part of it was the fact that nobody else interested him at all. The more prevalent reason why he didn’t, though he’d never admit it, was that he held out hope that each day would be the one that she called. 

Five was pretty certain his roommates despised him, but he wasn’t concerned about it. They had to listen to him rant about Vanya at all hours, so he didn’t really think he’d be likable to anyone in their position. Each time he heard his phone at all, he teleported to it, promptly throwing it down whenever he realized it was an email from a professor that he would undoubtedly not respond to. 

It was unsettling. Each day that passed, he was certain that she would at least give him some small update on her life, but she didn’t. 

Eventually, he couldn’t take it any longer. 

Well, really, what pushed him over the edge was the nagging concern that she had been hurt. He’d never even thought about it that way until some annoying sophomore in one of his classes started talking about her obsession with true crime (and he seriously could not find any reason at all why anybody needed to rant about that at all, especially in DiffEq, but apparently that professor liked some recent documentary and this had derailed into a discussion that detracted from his studies completely.) It then occurred to him that if Vanya had been hurt, there would have been no way for him to know. Glancing up at his professor in dismay, he stood up, blinking over to New Hampshire. 

She wasn’t at her place, so he started searching all over her campus, feeling stupid as he did but not pausing in his pursuit until he found her. 

And when he did find her, at the library, he stopped in his tracks completely. 

He wouldn’t have thought anything of her being alone if it weren’t for how  _ lonely _ she looked. She had no books or anything with her, so he imagined she wasn’t just studying in isolation. It was odd, how it seemed like she was both vying for anybody’s attention and afraid to receive it. Something about the picture in front of him reminded him of when she’d look at all of the others, wanting to be included but being afraid to make a sound at all. 

She was making sound right at the moment, albeit it was muffled by the way she’d pressed her forehead to her knees. He could hear her sniffling, realizing that she was crying. Without conscious thought, he blinked to her side, not touching her but asking, leaning down, “Vanya? Are you okay?”

Vanya looked up at him, looking too thin. Her nose was red and there were splotches of the color all over her face, but for the most part she looked pale from a lack of sleep. The bags under her eyes were an odd sight to see, and he didn’t know how to ask what  _ happened  _ to her. 

His thoughts went back to the person in his class, and he blurted, “Did somebody hurt you?”

She blinked, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “No.”

“What happened? Is it school?”

She shook her head. 

They stayed silent until she finally asked, “Why are you here, Five?”

He winced, backing away and admitting, “I wanted to see you. I got worried because…” He thought of the horror scenarios that had been going through his mind, but he didn’t want her to think he was just making excuses either. “I missed you. Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

She glanced down. “You don’t have to be here.” 

His stomach flipped, easily translating what she meant-  _ ‘I don’t want you here.’  _ Even if his intentions hadn’t been wrong, he was still hurting her feelings by being here. Clearly, she didn’t need her feelings to be hurt any further. 

“I can go,” he muttered.

But he didn’t want to leave her behind, not when she was this upset.

“Vanya, is it okay, though? If I stay for just a little? I don’t want to leave you like this.”

“It’s fine.”

“So I can stay, then?” His heartbeat picks up, hopeful. “I won’t be a bother, and I’ll leave when you ask. I just… I haven’t seen you in a while, and I really want to be with you right now.”

She nodded, the movement somewhat stilted, “Go ahead.”

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Five asked, crouching down in front of her. “Or I could help you study or something? I won’t know any of your classes, but I could make flash cards.” He’d learned how to make flash cards when one of his roommates told him he would listen to him talk about Vanya for one minute per card he made, and he was very proud of having this knowledge. It was something ordinary people did frequently, and he liked to think if he was ordinary enough Vanya would want to be around him. 

“Whatever you want to do.” Her voice didn’t hold anger or sadness; she sounded like she felt nothing at all after crying out as much as she had. 

“Have you been taking your meds?” Five questioned, touching her arm. She didn’t flinch away, which he hoped meant that she didn’t mind his touch. Her medicine was something she’d taken since she’d gotten super sick as a kid, spending nearly a year in quarantine. If she wasn’t taking it, he imagined that it would cause her to feel crummy, and it would explain how thin she’d gotten, the bags under her eyes, the pallid quality to her skin. 

“If anything I’ve been taking more.” 

Five frowned, not sure why Vanya would take extra medicine for whatever condition she had. “Why?” 

She shrugged, “‘M supposed to when I get stressed.”

His concern for her medicine went away, shaking off the bad feeling he’d had at it and focusing on the fact that she may start talking about what had upset her so deeply. “What’s been causing the stress?”

Vanya leaned against his shoulder. “It’s, uh.” She sounded like she was trying to find the right words, shy in a way that she hadn’t been since they’d really gotten together. He slung his arm around her shoulders, offering somewhat of a hug, the best he could do where they were in this position. Sounding just the smallest bit more confident, she said, “I’ve just felt… alone, lately.” 

“I’m going to visit you every day that I can,” Five promised easily, knowing it would comfort him just as much. “I’ll blink over whenever I can, and I’ll call you every day that I am unable to come.” 

“I don’t want to be a burden.”

He leaned in, kissing her gently, feeling somewhat content when she kissed him back. “You’re never a burden,” he murmured. “I love you too much for that to be the case.”

She laughed, weakly, pressing her forehead to his own, “I’m pretty sure you called Diego a burden at least twenty times during missions, and you love him.”

“Not in the same way.”

“Is Diego not your type?” Vanya teased.

“Of course, not,” Five retorted. “Ben is my type. If we’re talking guys.” 

“Ben?”

“Absolutely, he’s smart.”

She snorted, and he was surprised how easily he felt like they were back to what they once were. The thing was though, feeling content scared him too, knowing that it could easily get bad again. That he wouldn’t have cherished a somewhat  _ good _ exchange. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this fic is totally done, I’m posting the rest tonight!!


	4. Chapter 4

It was the weekend before finals, and Vanya was panicking. Five would be here any minute, so she really needed to calm down. Unfortunately, though, she didn’t think that was entirely possible. 

The fear that Five didn’t want her had somewhat dwindled in the time that he’d been coming to her everyday in the past month. Still, she regularly wondered if he would stop wanting to be around her if she was always upset, and she tried to stifle down all her unsettlement around the time that he’d be there. In result, it usually meant scheduling her panic attacks in her agenda, which, coincidentally, didn’t work a lot of times and also caused the university’s therapist to be disconcerted on her behalf when she talked about it. Apparently, it was abnormal to write down when panic attacks could happen in one’s schedule. But she’d started avoiding her medicine recently, hoping that it would be easier to bottle up all the feelings when they came if she actually had them, that way she could explode when it was needed. 

And, really, she should have just taken the therapist’s advice on other means of catharsis. When Five appeared beside her, while she was still crying, he started asking her to explain what was wrong. She was incapable, and, eventually, he just hugged her tightly, holding onto her assuringly while he cooed out soft words. 

When she finally could speak, she said, “School is just too much right now.” 

His voice filled with concern, “Are you struggling with your grades?”

She sighed before nodding, feeling pathetic as she glanced down. He tipped her chin up, staring at her, “How can I help?”

“I don’t think you can,” Vanya said miserably, tears starting to come back. “I’m failing aural skills. There’s nothing that’s going to change that, and I just feel like such a failure. Maybe I should just give up, accept that I’m going to be  _ just ordinary  _ in every-“

Five interrupted, “Vanya, stop.”

She frowned, staring at him in perplexment. 

“You’re  _ not _ a failure.” His hands were on her shoulder, and she’d never seen his eyes so serious as in that moment. “You’re not just ordinary, either. If you fail this class? Take it again; it’s that simple. I can stay with you all weekend studying if you need me to, and, if worse comes to worst, I can hack into the grading system and tweak it to whichever grade you want. No matter what, I’m here for you, okay?”

She blinked, not bothering to jokingly reprimand him for the whole hacking the school’s grading server because she knew it was a serious offer. “You’d really…” Vanya cleared her throat. “You actually want to be around me that long?” Even though she knew he had to want to be around her to teleport a state away everyday, she still worried.

For as long as she had known him, she could count with her fingers how many times Five had actually cried, so, when he started blinking frequently, trying to stave them off, she knew he was completely sincere. “I always want to be around you.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you,” Five said, pulling her back into his arms. “You’re my best friend and my favorite person. I like being around you, especially in comparison to my moronic roommates who set a fire in the microwave.” 

It was a true testament to how much he cared about her concerns that he didn’t go on a tirade about his roommates’ microwave fire. 

“Vanya,” Five told her, and she nearly gasped as she fell into his lap after he’d lifted her up. It’d been  _ months  _ at this point, and she wanted him now more than ever. He hadn’t expressed desire in wanting this in a while, and she thought it had been because he didn’t want her that way anymore. She was now beginning to suspect that he just didn’t know how to  _ ask,  _ to even get the courage  _ to  _ ask. “I know we haven’t… not in a while, and I’m sorry for even  _ thinking-“ _

She kissed him, cutting him off, “We need a hotel because I don’t want someone to walk in on us, though.”

He nodded easily, and she wrapped her legs around him, tucking her head against his neck as he lifted them both up, preparing for the sinking feeling of her stomach before he teleported. When they’d landed outside of a hotel, she didn’t bother asking what town they were in, just let him carry her until he wordlessly handed his credit card to a concierge that clearly hated her job. However, when Five teleported them to their room after getting his card back, she could practically feel her gaping at them, deciding maybe it wasn’t so boring after all. 

Vanya giggled as Five started tugging off his clothes quickly, clearly in a hurry, and she asked him to set her down for a second. He did, using it as an opportunity to unclothe faster while she started working at her own clothes, shrugging off her oversized sweater. Her skirt got stuck as she was pulling it off, so Five, glancing up at her for consent first, helped her out of it, much more gentle as he touched her skin.

She walked backwards to the bed, slipping off her shoes when she nearly tripped on them, frowning. Five smiled at her, rifling through his abandoned trousers for a moment before he found his wallet, grabbing a condom quickly before teleporting back to the bed and setting it down against it. Before she could inquire what he was doing, he was glancing up from between her legs, asking permission vocally this time. Vanya groaned, nodding again, and he hooked his fingers through the elastic band of her underwear and completely bared her to him. 

Five nudged her legs apart, hot breath at her thighs. When he kissed her knee, she felt the stubble that came from not shaving this morning scratch her legs, and she would have fallen if she weren’t already sitting atop the mattress. Five sunk to his knees, asking her to lay completely back, and she did, spreading her legs so widely that the stretch was almost painful. Sensing her discomfort, he set one on his shoulder, reaching down to pet her a few times before he touched her. 

Keening, she told him, very specifically, what she wanted from him, and he grinned widely, licking a quick stripe over her folds before easing a finger into her cunt and exploring the area around her clit. She was thankful he didn’t immediately go for it, considering how she was already certain he’d make her overstimulated before he even thought of his own climax. Vanya felt her arousal only grow at the thought, though, and she nearly yelped at the noise of approval he made as she gushed against his fingers. 

“You’re doing so good,” he praised, chin wet, pulling away from her just an instant. “It feels so good to taste you again.” 

Involuntarily, her hips canted up, craving more attention from him. She wanted nothing more than to let go, but he would likely tease it out of her for just a little bit, wait until he’d gotten her so worked up that she would be brazen in her requests. Vanya mewled, wanting him to take pity on her, and, when he smiled again, she almost thought he would. 

Instead, he pressed her hips to the mattress, going back to flicking his tongue over her languidly, lapping up her cum like it was dessert. He’d never acted like this was a chore for him, and she sometimes felt like he got off more on giving than receiving, which was incongruous to the personality many of the others associated with him. Vanya never tried to question it verbally, knowing that he’d think she was saying she didn’t want him to, and she enjoyed nothing more. 

Vanya could feel her stomach starting to tighten, and he paused, realizing she was about to climax. He pulled away again, and she made a small, sad noise at the loss of contact, prompting him to press a sloppy kiss to her knee before he started talking, sweet words that washed over her and left her basking in a soft glow. She would have been content staying there all night, listening to him speak so lovingly, but then he was between her legs again, slipping his tongue inside of her, knowing he smiled as a squeaking noise left her mouth. 

Vanya needed nothing more than for him to stop dragging it out, and he seemed to sense that she was at her wit’s end, coaxing his tongue inside of her walls as his thumb quickly brushed against her mound. When she was coming, loudly, he didn’t pause in his ministrations at all. It could have been thirty seconds or twenty minutes that passed, but all she knew was that he didn’t stop until she’d come a second time, crying underneath him. 

“I need you,” Vanya gasped. “Please, I need you inside of me.” 

He started rolling on the condom, but Vanya mumbled, “I’m on the pill. Got it prescribed at the women’s clinic.” 

Five didn’t comprehend what she was asking until she stated it very clearly, and the blush traveled from his cheeks to his chest. Still, he didn’t argue, just bracket himself between her thighs and thrust inside of her with one clean movement. Vanya’s head fell against the mattress, hips rolling eagerly to meet his pounding movements halfway. He started barking out praise, vulgar more than sweet, and she wanted nothing more than for him to come inside of her, starting to plead for him to do just that. 

It had been so long for them, and she wished that one of them had the confidence to ask sooner. Five, in the past month, had made her more and more assured that he actually wanted her, but she’d kept thinking that maybe it wasn’t enough, considering he wasn’t even asking about it. Maybe she should have just asked him first, though. 

There was a bright light covering her vision, and she could feel herself getting close again. It felt like all the lights in the building were flickering, like the furniture in the room was trembling right along with her, and-

Oh, God, it actually was. 

Five was still moving inside of her, coaxing out the orgasm and somehow causing the shaking to get worse. (Maybe it was just a really bad earthquake? Was that a regular occurence wherever they were?) When his hips rocked forward one last time before his heartbeat stuttered (she had no idea how she could hear his heartbeat so  _ loudly, _ could she always do that?), Vanya’s arms wrapped around him, hoping she wouldn’t fall off the bed from what was surrounding them. The windows shattered beside them, and she realized that it happened right as she clenched fully around him, feeling his cum inside of her. 

“What just happened?” Vanya gasped out, flicking her eyes around the room in astonishment.

Five, seeming to just notice that the room had been destroyed in the first place, blinked in confusion, gaping at all of the damage. “I…” His eyes narrowed before brightening, getting an idea, and when he was pushing his head between her thighs again, she nearly screamed. Plaster from the wall rained down on them, and he glanced up at her triumphantly. The joy quickly faded, though, and he realized something, saying the words aloud as his features drew into something much more serious, “Vanya, I think you have powers.” 

“I-  _ what?” _

Five started muttering to himself, theorizing wildly before he seemed to realize something else, “Vanya,... your medicine. Have you still been taking it as much as you had before?”

She shook her head in confusion, and his nostrils flared. “I’m going to kill him,” he grumbled. 

“Please tell me what’s going on,” Vanya whispered, moving to cover herself. It probably occurred to Five that she was starting to stress again, and he moved up, pulling her against him, mumbling assurances but not explaining what was going on.  _ “Please,  _ Five.”

His heartbeat stopped for just a moment. “Vanya, I have to tell you something. Well, really, I have to tell you quite a few things. It’s time we talked.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter will be up momentarily!


	5. Chapter 5

Five could feel his heartbeat racing as he tried to stammer out his theories about why Vanya’s powers had been suppressed. It was so  _ much  _ that she was dealing with it at that moment, and she couldn’t handle something like this on top of it all. However, when he’d said everything, she just shook her head and said she wanted to wait to talk about that in the morning. Flummoxed, Five tried to explain that they needed to figure out her powers as soon as possible, but he stopped as he saw the look in her eyes. She was… overwhelmed. He couldn’t keep talking about this if she was that upset. 

When she reached out for him, murmuring that she missed him, he closed his eyes, blinking back tears from falling again. He felt stupid, crying about this. Crying at all. But she wasn’t commenting on it, was crying too, and they were both holding onto one another. 

“Tomorrow we talk about this,” he finally agreed aloud, and she climbed onto his lap, still hugging him. “You’re okay with that, right? Because it is imperative that we get this addressed soon.” 

She nodded. He kissed her forehead, wiping off her tears as he leaned them back to the mattress. “I missed you so much,” he admitted, not really sure if he had already. A lot of things were processing in his mind, vying for his attention, so he focused on the most important one- taking care of her. “Vanya, I don’t… I don’t know why we started growing distant with one another. We’re not… you’re too important to me to ever be distant to me. I’ll quit MIT if I have to, move over here and help you while you adjust to this-“ He remembered his promise to talk about it in the morning. “I’d do that, if you asked. I can always go back. You’re more important to me, though.” 

She shook her head, “Five, I can’t make you do that. I mean, I’d hardly even say we’re dating.”

Normally, a comment like that would have shut him up, but too much was on the line here.  _ Vanya  _ was on the line here. “Vanya, it doesn’t matter to me. You’re what I want for the rest of my life. If it means getting my degree a little later to help make sure you’re okay… I would put that on halt for you. It doesn’t matter to me. As long as you want me, I want you.”

Vanya blushed, glancing down demurely. He raised his brows expectantly. “What if I accidentally hurt you somehow?”

Five frowned, “What do you…?”

She sighed, “I mean, I want to figure out if I actually have powers and this isn’t some fluke because that’s a _likely_ possibility, but, if I have powers, I have to figure them out. They appear to be…” Vanya winced, saying quietly,  _ “Destructive.”  _

“Are you okay?”

“I’m in shock, I think.”

He nodded, holding her closer. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to tell you something.” 

“Yeah?”

“I don’t like being apart from you, and I hope I don’t sound clingy-“

“Don’t ever worry about that,” he interrupted. “Keep going.”

“If I really have powers, I’d like to move in with you, if that’s okay?”

He grimaced, “Like in the dorms?”

“No, like an apartment.” 

“Oh, thank  _ Christ.  _ If I had to deal with those stupid asshole roommates,” he paused, shaking his head clear of the microwave incident. “Yes, of course. We can move in together, and I could figure out some way to train you. I’d drop out in a heartbeat if you asked, which, by the way, what’s your plan there?”

She pursed her lips, “I finish the semester for sure. Just have finals left… but, I guess after that, I’m open to whatever. It would be stupid to skip finals, though.” 

“Okay,” Five nodded. “We’ll start cramming and studying as soon as you’re ready.” 

She laughed softly. “Can we lay down for just a little bit?”

“Yeah,” Five said easily, moving then to where they were more in a spooning position, pulling the covers on top of them. “I love you, you know,” he mumbled into the nape of her neck. 

“You do?” Her voice sounds hopeful yet uncomfortably uncertain. 

“‘Course I do. You’re my best friend.” He kissed her shoulder, “I wouldn’t be friends with someone I didn’t like.”

“Why did it feel like we were moving apart for so long?” Vanya whispered, voice so quiet that he had to strain to hear it despite being right next to her. “Do you think it’d happen again?”

“If it did,” Five said softly. “I’d make sure we made it work. Even if it got truly awful, we’re still family. Yeah, we were forced into that, and we’re not really siblings in any words at all, considering he never actually adopted us….We  _ are _ family to one another. We chose that. And I’m not letting anything take that away from us, especially not lack of communication.” 

“I love you too,” Vanya told him, turning to face him. Her small body pressed to his, and he trailed his finger along her spine. “What if… what if I  _ do  _ have powers?” Five wasn’t sure if he heard hesitation or excitement or apprehension in her voice, but he suspected it was a mixture of all three. “What if he lied to us all along? About me being ordinary?”

“No matter what happens,” Five told her. “He was always lying about that. You’re nothing less than extraordinary.” 

She smiled shyly, and he kissed her again. 

“It’ll be okay,” he reminded her. “We’ll be okay.”

There wasn’t any uncertainty he felt, making that statement. Even though they’d had a rough time after escaping the clutch of Reginald Hargreeves, all it had been was an adjustment period. When something awful became something normal, people were bound to grow desperate with fear but also begrudgingly acceptant of that feeling. And when they escaped, some of those patterns stayed within them. But they would acclimate to the changes, and he was determined that they’d  _ grow  _ from it. Though he’d never say any of that out loud, not yet. 

“What are we going to do?” Vanya murmured. “If it’s true?” 

Five shrugged. “I don’t really know, but I’m excited to find out.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!! This is the final chapter, and I’d just like to say a quick thank you to everyone who supported this story!!! All of the kudos, bookmarks, and comments are always appreciated. I’m going to try my best to be responding to the comments because I’ve been neglecting them for a while from lack of motivation, but I really appreciate y’all support so much.


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